Tough times get tougher for struggling Celtics

The New York Knicks win for the first time in Boston since Nov. 26, 2006, ending a 13-game losing streak with an 89-86 victory over the Celtics at the TD Garden on Thursday night.

By Jim Fenton

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

By Jim Fenton

Posted Jan. 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 25, 2013 at 1:00 PM

By Jim Fenton

Posted Jan. 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 25, 2013 at 1:00 PM

BOSTON

» Social News

There was some ugliness in the air the last time the Celtics lost a home game to the New York Knicks.

On the night of Nov. 26, 2006, while the Knicks were cruising to a 101-77 win, there were chants of “Fire Doc’’ aimed at Celtics coach Doc Rivers ringing through the building that was known back then as the TD Banknorth Garden.

Times were tough for the Celtics back then as they were in the early stages of a second straight sub-.500 season with a group of young players.

More than six years later, the Knicks finally put an end to a 13-game Causeway Street losing streak on Thursday night, and while there were no “Fire Doc’’ chants this time, the Celtics are clearly experiencing some tough times.

They began the second half of the season with a frustrating 89-86 loss to the Knicks, giving them a season-high five-game losing streak and a 20-22 record.

After winning six games in a row earlier this month to bring hope that a turnaround had arrived, the Celtics are reeling, and now they have to play the Hawks in Atlanta tonight (7:35, TV: Comcast SportsNet; radio: WEEI-93.7 FM) and then the Miami Heat at the TD Garden on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s tough, man,’’ said Kevin Garnett after his team made only 41 percent of their shots and scored 38 second-half points. “It’s something we’re trying to correct. The only way to get out of this is hard work and to grind it out. We’re a working bunch. That’s what we’re going to continue to be.’’

After sub-par performances in road losses to the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this week, the Celtics showed vast improvement against the Atlantic Division-leading Knicks, but it still wasn’t enough to end the losing streak.

They fell behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter, rallied to within two down the stretch, but made two costly turnovers in the final 1:06 to curtail the comeback bid.

“It’s frustrating to lose when you give effort,’’ said Rivers, “because you’ve got to keep convincing your guys if you play that way every night, you’re going to make more shots than that and you’re going to win a lot of games.

“But right now, they’re sitting there thinking, ‘We lost.’ So they know it. They know with that effort, you’re going to win most nights.’’

It didn’t happen against the Knicks, even with Rajon Rondo (23 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds for his fourth triple-double of the season) having a superb all-around game.

Page 2 of 2 - The Celtics were within 86-84 but allowed J.R. Smith to hit a 3-pointer with 1:11 to go, then turned the ball over on an errant Jason Terry feed. After getting within three, the Celtics had the ball with 13.1 seconds left, but Pierce fumbled a pass from Rondo out of bounds.

“Just down the stretch, we had poor execution, simple and plain,’’ said Pierce. “You know when you need buckets, when the game is tight, you can’t turn the ball over. You know and that’s what we did down the stretch.

“Our defense was good enough to win. We held the Knicks, who score a lot of points, to 89. We gave ourselves a good chance to win. But it was just our execution down the stretch was very poor.’’

The Celtics are averaging only 88.2 points in the losing streak, failing to reach 100 in another of the five games.

Pierce had 19 first-half points but didn’t score a field goal in the second half and finished with 22 points. Jason Terry (1-for-6, two points) continued struggling and Garnett managed only eight points.

“Right now, we’re not getting it done,’’ said Rondo. “It’s like night and day. We won six in a row and were clicking on all cylinders. Now it’s not all five guys at one time throughout the game for 48 minutes.

“We go through stretches where we’re not scoring the ball and our defense is lacking as well. We have to find a way. We have to get easier looks, convert in transition and convert on turnovers. We’ve got to stay aggressive.’’